What a beautiful house of worship St. Patricks would have been in it's years as the cathedral. In 1954, a major remodeling was undertaken which lowered the 'cathedral' ceiling considerably. I also believe this is when they altered the front facade by adding the covered stairway and garages. This 'Perkins' postcard in my collection is postmarked in June of 1909.

Following the 1979 demolition of the rectory and school, Corner Construction of Rapid City constructed the subterranean parish hall and the new rectory. During this time services were continued in the 1902 church.  Once the new construction was complete, services were held in the new parish hall while Jim Schopen (I believe) demolished the old church in the fall of 1981. In one photo, parishioners are seen leaving after the Saturday afternoon service which had been intereupted by the collapsing of the old church. Construction then started on the new church connecting it to the new portions of the building already complete. 
The little lady is my daughter Dena and is seen on the roof and in the roof truss helping her dad rescue an old electrical insulator in the lower left of the truss.

Lead City - 1887                Cropped from the original; taken from area of McClellan St.;  
unnamed photographer; W J Stone Collection, I own the original family heirloom.

#1 - future site of St. Patricks Cathedral
#2 - St. Patricks on Gold Street
#3 - Future site if Homestake Hospital (1889 - 1985)
#4 - Future site of Lead City Hall etc.  (1912 - present)
#5 - Oldest extant building on Lead's Main Street
#6 - Miners Union Hall and Opera House
#7 - Huffman/Uren/Stone home; 1884 or earlier to present
#8 - First dedicated Central School Building. (1881 - 2000)

                   LEAD - BLACK HILLS METROPOLIS
                                                           by J. E. Meddaugh
This wonderful 'Souvenir of LEAD' was published in 1892. It is full of these artistic collages.

The St. Patricks Centennial Plate (seen previously) indicates the first Siever St. church constructed in 1895, this shows it had to be at least 1892 or earlier as other references indicate 1890. This is the church that burned in 1900 and was constructed as seen on the plate in 1902.

The Episcopal Church seen here on the corner of Addie and Wall Streets was constructed in 1887. The home next door was the home of David Morgan and still stands today.  

The Public School was the original Central School on Wall Street.

#1 - The first St. Patricks Catholic Church was constructed on North Gold Street where the Open Cut would eventually advance. Built ca.1879, and demolished when the first Siever St . church was constructed ca. 1890.. One of Lead's earliest citizens, P.A. Gushurst was the first to be married in the church.
#2 - Miners Union Hall & Opera House on the NW corner of Main and Bleeker. Built in 1880 and burned in the disastrous fire of March 1900. The Hearst Free Library was located here until moving to the Hearst Mercantile Building on N. Mill in 1896. Over the years the main floor was generally rented to various businesses.
#3 - Lead City Bank (First National Bank) 1883 to 1903 when it was replaced by a much larger building.
#4 - Homestake engineering offices and T. J. Grier residence until the newer structure was constructed on Nob Hill in 1895.
#5 - Nob Hill
#6 - Giant & Old Abe Hoist

Be sure to click the photo to enlarge!!

J. C. H. Grabill photo; Library of Congress. Information thanks to Don Toms

This historic postcard, postmarked 1913. shows St Patricks Cathedral and the church rectory. It's neighbors: Lead High School (1896) in the foreground; the Assembly Hall (1903) right center and Christ Episcopal Church on Main Street (1896) right of middle. Photo ca. 1910; published by The Omaha News Company; Made in Germany

St Patricks Centennial collectors plate

Demolition progresses with the removal of the walkway between the rectory and the school.

Better pics coming. Sister Sue took these pictures and printed them on a 'PMT' printer when she worked at the Call office. Some salvage work going on. Bill Stone and daughter Dixie in middle window

St Patricks Catholic Church. Demolition of the rectory and school have started. Corner Construction would build the new 'subterranian' parish hall before the church would be demolished. Pictured in front is my daughter Dixie. My photo - 1979

          I'll continue with Siever Street which could get quite lenghty as I've got MUCH material on 'my street'. This clipping is from the 6 May 1979 Black Hills Weekly/Lead Daily Call (LDC). Also pictured: L to R; Nike Sentovich, Ann Mastrovich and Pearl Krilanovich all neighbors on Slavonian Alley (Gwinn Ave.) They are the more 'senior'  Ladies

Dial phones come to Lead - Deadwood; 18 Feb 1962

It was fifty years ago today -- Northwestern Bell came to play (sing to Beatles Sgt. pepper...)
>>18 Feb 1962<< Lead-Deadwood caught up with the times - our new DIAL telephones were activated. Technological change came at a much slower pace in those times. Dial phones began being installed in metropolitan areas in 1919, the massive switching apparatus was expensive and usually required new buildings to be constructed.
The phone that became ubiquitous to a generation was the Dreyfuss Model 302. Manufactured from 1937 to 1955 and used well beyond that time, it is what I remember being 'switched' over. Ma Bell actually owned the phones and would confiscate the old ones as newer models were introduced.
There is always a price to pay with modernization. 'Central', as the telephone operator centers were often called, were phased out by 'the machine'! My father, Ben R Stone, Jr; knew the operators voice's. When I was a little guy I would always say "2132 please Gwen" whether it was Gwen or not.
I gave myself a very nostalgic Christmas present and purchased a restored 302 Dreyfuss. A true 'time' machine that works perfectly, sounds wonderful and man is it heavy. The fact that it was manufactured in a very good year, 1949, might have urged me to hit Buy It Now!
Another interesting note - I still use the fifty year old Home Phone number that was assigned the family home fifty years ago!!

St Patrick Parochial School just prior to demo in 1979

Sorry about the poor quality. This is the best I could adobeize from a very faded old PMT print. Pat Farrar of Rapid City has begun the demo of the rectory and the school would follow. The photo is taken from the lot where the Assembly Hall was demolished in 1974.

A, B, C's of LEADNoBS BLOG

• A -- This is and probably always will be a work that needs improvement.
• B --  I don't claim to have much of a journalistic bent. I tend to get a little 'wordy', something a blogger is supposed to avoid - oh well! 
• C -- I'll try to live up to 'NoBS' (Boy Scouts; Barbra Streisand, Bruce Springsteen, Boz Skaggs, Britney Spears,etc., etc. and Bill Stone). If I'm not sure of something, I'll say it. If I'm assuming something, I'll say that. I will endeavor to be as accurate as my resources allow.
• D -- I will usually use the resources I have on hand which are considerable.
• E -- I will give credit where credit is due. I WILL NOT STEAL AN OTHERS WORK! After all, that's what research is, an effort to combine resources to provide an interested audience with a new source of 'old' history. 
• F -- Along the same line, if my work is cited I would hope to be used as a reference. I will be persuing a copyright and the blog will be notified as such. I will be using many of my personal photographs and those will be watermarked and/or written on as my collection.
• G --
• HISTORIC PHOTOS and Postcards. Everybodies favorites. It would be difficult if not at times impossible to obtain permission to use these valuable references. It is my, possibly mistaken, understanding that these are usually considered 'Public Domain'. Especially in the digital cyberspace of the time, many of the historic images are readily available. I WILL MAKE KNOWN WHAT INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE IMAGE and who has the rights if known.  
• I -- If I am using 'interview' sources, hear say etc, I will make note of that. A 'memory' can be very interesting but OFTEN quite undependable when recording history. It is a tool that can be used to guide historic interpretation but is 'sand through the hourglass'
• To be continued

Siever Street, ca. 1935

Siever Street, mid to late 1940's. Once a hub of activity in Lead has fallen to the wrecking crew between 1974 and the mid 1980's. Barely visible is the corner of the Homestake Hospital (1985); Lead City Hall and police dept; Hearst Dept. Store warehouse (1975) and the Lead Public School Assembly Hall (1974). On the west side is the Miners and Merchants Bank; the Faust Block (Western Drug, Ruzicks Market/J&E, demoed 1985); Railway Express Agency and a Snack Shop (extant - apartments since mid 70's) and the St Patrick Parochial School, rectory and  Catholic Church gone in 1979 - 80. Black Hills Studio photo, Fassbender/HARCC and personal collection.